VAMPIRE THE MASQUERADE 

:
CALGARY BY NIGHT

HISTORY:

 1884-1933: 8 Princes (Grangrel, Brujah, Gangrel, then 5 Brujah)

o First Prince was a Gangrel 9th gen who arrived in Calgary in 1884, mostly because she
wanted a domain west away from the cities.
o She was overthrown within a decade by a Brujah.
o Just as colonists go west, many Kindred chose to leave the dangerous easter part of
Canada (Since the Sabbat controls Montreal, which means lots of bloody fighting in
the region). So they move west and settle in cities like Calgary.
o The position of Prince keeps passing from one elder to another, first between
waring Gangrel and Brujah and then between a few overly ambitious Brujah.
o This leave the Prince’s domain badly managed and mostly unsupervised as the
Prince of the moment focus on keeping his place and not much else, even if they
wish to.
 1929-1933: Great Depression and the rise of Remus.
o The Great Depression hit some of the houses that were involved in human affairs.
o At the time, the Brujah Mara MacLennan was Prince since 1928 and was more
focused on destroying her predecessor’s work than controlling the community.
o This hand off approach to management that had left Princes focused only on
fighting challengers was starting to be a problem for many Kindreds, who now
wanted changes.
o This change would appear in the form of the 6th Generation Ventrue Remus, who
arrived in early 1931.
o Remus was a Roman officer in the 3rd century, raising in an era were generals
commanded through might and charisma without a care for law and politicians,
taking what they wanted through their might (including the imperial throne)
 He impressed a Ventrue Methuselah enough that he was granted the
embrace just as he was accessing some of the highest ranks of the army.
 At first seeing this as an opportunity to hold more power, Remus was angry
when he realized (too late) that his new unlife would prevent him from ever
becoming Emperor. Soon after, he took the name Remus, after the brother
of Rome’s founder Romulus, or as he says it, “The one who was denied his
destiny through death.”
 He was a martial Ventrue, as much of a fighter as a leader.
  Remus did get involved in some roman campaigns to defend the empire, but
otherwise sticking to the shadows. He stayed in Italy after the fall of the
Empire, sticking around for the Ostrogoths, the Byzantines, the Lombards
and the Franks. Was on and off Prince of Pavia during these times, being
overthrow by a vampire who came with the newcomers before retaking his
domain a few decades later.
 Eventually left Italy for the German HRE as he believed this was now the
center of power in Europe.
 While a fighter, Remus did not abandon the Camarilla for the Sabbat, like
some Ventrue did. Instead of seeing it as trading his martial allure for that of
a cowardly businessman, Remus saw it as expanding his horizons.
 Following the Wars of Religion, he went into slumber until the late 18 th
century.
 Finally moved to America following the end of WW1 and the end of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire (where he was residing following the fall of the
HRE)
o Although a newcomer in Calgary, Remus was quick in tacking control of the local
Ventrue Clan, and by the end of 1931 he was Praetor of the Board and a Primogen
(in Calgary the Prince can send invites to be Primogen at his will, but if he sends it to
a Clan instead of a particular individual then the Clan decides internally who gets the
job).
o Remus made promises to the local Clans and worked to ensure business restarted,
in great part thanks to the combined effort of the Ventrues (who he forced into
helping him).
o By early 1933 he was Prince in all but name, and after a fail attack against him by
MacLennan the Prince was forced out of the city.
 1933-1998: The reign of Prince Remus
o While Remus did ensure some order was brought in this anarchy, kept his word and
removed what Sabbat influence had been in the city, he also proved to be an
extremely authoritarian Prince.
o He was also greedier when it came to giving the right to Embrace mortals, even for
his own Clan. He himself officially never sired any childer while Prince. The arrival of
immigrants to Calgary did bring new Kindreds, however.
o Then the 1944 Second Anarch Revolt happened, with the Anarch Free State. It
spooked the hell out of Remus, and he spent the 1950’s finding more and more
loopholes and legal excuses to remove the Anarchs from his city. The gruesome fate
of the local Baron made it clear that Anarch presence was no longer tolerated.
o This would prove the start of Remus’s shift from authoritarianism to full on
totalitarian despotism. He considered his will to be law, in part because he was far
older than any of the other vampires in Calgary.
 o As every dictator needs his secret police, he began to rely a lot more on the
Nospheratus, who gained some rights and privileges in exchange of their loyalty.
Rumors are that he also blood bonded a few of the most prominent Nospheratus,
including the Primogen Modesty Dinsmore, although this was never proven.
 Modesty Dinsmore is an elder Nospheratu turned into the 1700’s in colonial
Massachusetts and a 8th or 9th gen (haven’t decided yet, currently
weighting for the 9th)
 She was the oldest of twin siblings who lived in poverty after their family
went bankrupt in their youth.
 She was turned in her twenties. Decades later, Modesty was given the okay
by her local Prince to embrace her twin brother Horatio, who was then in
his 60’s. He was not happy about the whole thing, but remained with her in
their unlives.
 Both moved to Canada following the American Revolution, and then moved
west as they wanted a more quiet place to settle.
o The 1970’s saw three attempts to remove him. One by the leading Tremere of the
city, one by the returning MacLennan, and one by the Sabbat, which tried to use the
discontent against Remus to gain control of the city.
o Remus only tightened his grip on his city following this, with even some Ventrue
beginning to chafe under his rule.
 1998: The Calgary civil war and the end of Remus.
o By the 1990’s, people were getting sick of Remus. The high and mighty Ventrue
prince was brutal in repressing his opposition, and Blood Hunts had become
worryingly common.
o Rumors also began to circulate that the extreme limitations on the Embrace were
not always applied to the Nospheratus. People began to suspect that the
Nospheratus had been allowed to increase their ranks far more than the other Clans
in exchange of their help in upholding Remus’s regime.
o The fact that Remus’s Sheriffs over the years had either been violent Gangrels or
vicious Nospheratus also didn’t help his case.
o The one who finally decided to do something about this was a 7th (or 8th, haven’t
decided yet) Tremere named John (Jan) Soblowski.
 Sokolowski is a Polish vampire who was embraced in the 1790’s, just as his
country was disappearing.
 He had been dabbling in the occult in order to find a way to turn back the
tide of Polish history and allow his country to regain its greatness. He
instead caught the attention of a Tremere elder, who promised him that his
abilities were wasted serving his nation. Broken by the end of his country in
1795, he agreed.
 He quickly lost his nationalism to focus on his new unlife, quickly rising in
the Tremere Pyramid.
  He moved to Canada in the mid-19th century and anglicized his name from
Jan to John.
 As of 1997, Soblowski was the Regent of Calgary’s Chartrie follow the death
of the previous regent at the hand of Remus in the seventies (might also be
a Lord. Was actually wondering if he was powerful enough for that)
o Soblowski began to organize his local Tremere for a possible uprising. He started to
contact the Brujah Clan, which had always been dissatisfied with Remus, as well as
the Toreadors, whose artistic freedoms were greatly limited by Remus at this point.
o Modesty Dinsmore was made aware of Soblowski’s plans, however, and quickly
informed Remus. The Prince decided to act, even if he wasn’t certain exactly what
Soblowski was planning.
o His attack on the Chartrie might have stopped things right there and then had a
Malkavian, somehow aware he was about to be put on Remus’s bad list, warned
Soblowski. While the attack on the Chartrie did damage the local Tremere Clan,
Soblowski and some of his fellow warlocks were able to get out.
o What was supposed to end the possible revolt ignited it, as Remus had not seen it
worth to inform the rest of the Kindreds of his reasons to attack the Tremere. Many
thus saw it as a tyrant gone mad and chose to join Soblowski, sending Calgary in a
civil war.
o The fighting lasted for a couple of months. Soblowski was eventually able to win
thanks to his secret ace: Vittorio Orricio, a 7 th gen Lasombra antitribu. Orricio, who
pretended to be a Ventrue in public, agreed to help Soblowski in exchange of a
place in Calgary and for the Tremere to lie about his lineage, as he was the only one
to know.
o Remus was finally taken down, taking his own life at the last moment out of spite
and to stop any diablerie.
o Soblowski then took the position of Prince. This surprised some, especially the
Ventrue, who expected Soblowski to turn to them to rule once Remus was out of
the way.
 1998 to start of the campaign (Christmas 1999): The reign of Prince John Soblowski
o As a Prince, Soblowski had two goals: To be different than Remus and to create a
balance where each Clans would have a voice, a peace between everyone instead of
a Prince lording over them as a tyrant.
o Orricio was given the opportunity to become a Primogen, which did nothing to help
the new Prince, this lonely new “Ventrue” raised suspicions and worries from his
“Clan”.
o Unlike Remus, who was also first and at the forefront of everything, Soblowski
limited direct access to his person to only the greatest members of the city. To talk
to “the masses” he instead sent his “Envoy”, the 12th gen Tremere Tracy Eggen,
who was mostly known as the last Kindred to be Embraced before Remus’s
takeover.
 o Soblowski also tried to reinstate more and more traditions and daily rituals to create
an allure of tradition and fancy to his court. This had mixed results so far, although
the Toreadors like the effort.
o One of Soblowski main tactics to bring people together after the fighting was to go
the opposite direction that Remus had on the Embrace. He gave the green light to
many of his supporters (as rewards) and his enemies (as bribe and consolation prize)
to Embrace a mortal.
o This led to the issue of some Kindreds assuming everyone now had the right to
embrace mortals. Realizing this could be a problem, Soblowski appointed some
Tremeres as “Page”, a temporary title he invented as a solution. Pages had the duty
to monitor the Clans to catalogue who had the right to embrace and who embraced
who. This backfired on Soblowski, as most saw it as the Prince getting his nose in the
affairs of the other Clans.
o The civil war and now the liberal gift of the Embrace caught the attention of the
Camarilla. A Brujah Justicar named Hakon sent one of his Archons to investigate.
The Archon, a 11th gen Ventrue named Rita Priddy, has gotten the message that
Hakkon wish to find something wrong, as his tenure as Justicar expire in two years.
o IT HAS BEEN A YEAR SINCE SOBLOWSKI BECAME PRINCE. NOW FACTIONS ARE ALL
TRYING TO PUSH THE NEW PRINCE AROUND AS HE STRUGGLE TO HOLD CONTROL
OVER HIS COURT. MANY VAMPIRES NOW HAVE THE RIGHT TO EMBRACE, JUST AS
THE FOUR PCs MEET ONCE AGAIN FOR CHRISTMAS. NORMAL HUMANS, UNAWARE
OF WHAT IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN TO THEM.

THE CURRENT SITUATION:

CLANS:

 Brujah: The Brujah never liked Remus. He overthrew one of them and created a
totalitarian regime. It’s no surprise they joined in the two attempts to have him
removed in the 70’s, and no surprise either that they immediately answered Soblowski’s
call for a third revolt. Following their victory, the Brujah have become the most vocal
voice for change and removal of everything they see as “Remusi”, most vocal among
them being the loud Wideline Louis, an 11th gen turned during the Haitian Revolution.
Yet, even for all their support and actions, Soblowski has yet to ask Wideline or any
Brujah elder to join him as Primogen. No one knows exactly why the new Prince shows
such reticence to his key allies. Some say he’s already afraid of the Iconoclasts and
doesn’t want to give them too much powers. Some say it’s punishment for the many
Brujah who left to join the Anarchs, now that the threats from Remus are no more.
Other imply that the Brujah want too much too fast for Soblowski’s tastes, who already
has a hard time with his new status quo.
 Gangrel: While the Clan as a whole wasn’t always happy with Remus’s oppressive
control, many individuals lost a lot of clout with the final death of the prince. Kayla
 O’Duggan had just been appointed Sheriff when Soblowski revolted (Remus had a
tendency to frequently switch sheriffs so none could gain enough power to oppose him).
Meanwhile, the violent Scourge Micah found himself removed from office as Sobloski
refuse to use such violent tactics against the thin blooded, finding it counterproductive.
While O’Duggan is trying to reconcile herself to the new situation out of survival, Micah
decided to continue his duties, with or without official support, a dangerous challenge
to Soblowski’s rule from one of the strongest Gangrels in the city.
 Malkavian : At the end of the day, Soblowski would have been dead had it not been for
a lone Malkavian named Curtis Malkinson (his sire believed the fact his last name
started with Malk like the clan meant he would become an important Malkavian when
the time was right). As a reward for his crucial help and as part of Soblowski’s policy of
“trying to have everyone get along”, Malkinson found himself the new Sheriff.
Sloblowski hopes Malkinson will continue to protect him. Too bad Malkinson is more
fosued on listening to what words have to say to play favorite.
 Nospheratu: When pushed came to shove, the Sewer Rats threw their lot with Remus,
possibly even more than the Ventrue. But since the change of regime, it has been radio
silence from them. No one even knows what happened to Modesty Dinsmore. Some
suspect she was killed in the fighting, or that her brother Horatio used the chaos to
diablerize her. Maybe she’s still alive and well. Soblowski was quick to offer them a
position as one of his Primogens, but he has yet to receive any response, which only
makes him more nervous. Nobody really knows what the Nospheratus are doing in the
sewer, and no one is willing to go check it out by themselves.
 Tremere: The fall of Remus was a double-edged sword for them. On the one hand, their
leader is now in charge of city. On the other hand, the attack on the Chartrie that
started it all did a number on them. So instead of being the new power in the city, the
Warlocks found themselves forced to seek allies in order to stay on top. While in private,
some argue that Soblowski made a mistake by becoming Prince and should have instead
focused on rebuilding the Clan, they all stand loyal and helpful of their prince’s cause, at
least until someone higher on the pyramid tell them otherwise.
 Toreador: The Toreadors were probably the ones who gained the most from Remus’s
fall. Remus had often restrained their artistic passions to those that helped the Ventrue
businesses, seeing the rest as useless. Now they were free to express themselves, which
also led to new names rising within the Clan. Soblowski asked both the Elder Jean Déran
(and French sculptor) to become his Promogen and asked for one to the Clan itself,
expecting the Clan to also appoint Déran. Instead, a rising 12th gen named Carla Kline
was appointed as the Clan’s Primogen, leaving Sloblowski with two Toreador by his side,
one too much if you asked him.
 Ventrue: When the dust settled, many Ventrue had abandoned Remus and went to
Soblowski’s revolt, freeing themselves of Remus’s controlling hand in their affairs. But
instead of coming on top, as many expected Soblowski to offer them the princedom, the
Ventrue found themselves with a power vacuum dangerously moving toward factional
 strife. The 10th generation Ivana Levchenko, now the Praetor of the Board, found her
new authority challenged by a surprise newcomer. A few weeks after Soblowski’s
ascension, a vampire named Spencer Yong made his apparition at court, claiming to be
Remus’s childer. The prince embraced him in the 70’s and had kept him isolated in a
secret location as he learned the Ventrue’s way. After Soblowski confirmed the claim
was true, Yong was welcomed at court. The 7th gen didn’t waste time trying to claim
control of the Clan, with some younger Ventrue seeing him as a better horse to back
than Levchenko, who herself accused Yong of being an Anarch in all but name.
Soblowski did nothing to ease tension when he granted Yong the right to embrace a
mortal.

FACTIONS:

 Camarilla: The Camarilla mostly left Remus alone. After all, no matter how tyrannical he
was, he also kept the Sabbat and the Anarchs out of the city (although it could be
argued that he was also a great recruitment tool for the enemies of the Camarilla). But
his removal was a violent affair which left the Camarilla’s position a lot more weakened
than it used to be under Remus. Even more worrisome, the new Prince seems a bit too
willing to give permissions for the Embrace, which might lead to unwanted attention.
Justicar Hakon, willing to find some excuse to intervene before his term as Justicar
expire, sent his Archon Rita Priddy to find a reason for him to intervene.
 Sabbat: The Sabbat tried to remove Remus from Calgary and take it over, but they had
underestimated Remus’s strength at the time. But the recent civil war was a perfect
opportunity to enter the city again, while everyone was distracted. No one suspect the
renewed presence of a small Sabbat Coterie in the city, except for the Sheriff Curtis
Malkinson. More worryingly, the Coterie is led by Esperanza Arcos, an 8th gen Lasombra
who heard rumor that her Sire might be in the city. She had not seen him since she left
him to join the First Anarch Revolt. If he was really here, then maybe it was time they
had a reunion…
 Anarchs: Anarchs suffered under Remus, who stopped tolerating them following the
Second Anarch Revolt. With the Nospheratus operating as secret police, no place in
Calgary was truly safe. So his overthrown was seen as a good thing by all Anarchs in
Canada. It didn’t stop them from growing suspicious when the new prince invited the
Anarchs to return and have a Baron appointed. Soblowski was mostly wanted the many
Brujahs suddenly leaving the Camarilla to have someone controlling them, wrongly
believing that a Baron could command them as a Prince would. So while Anarchs are
back, they are highly suspicious of the new status quo, with many not trusting that the
changes are real, while others believe it did not go far enough. If Remus could be
removed, why not remove the Camarilla from Calgary altogether?